Williams, John

(from Beers)

John Williams (1810–1879) was born in Devonshire, England. In 1832 he came to Quebec, and worked for a time at vessel loading, but, as cholera was raging at that port, he went on to a farm at Brantford, Upper Canada where he remained for three years. In 1843 he came to Warwick Twp, Lambton County, and settled on Lot 18, Con. 4 SER.

He set to work industriously, his efforts succeeding in the production of a valuable farm. For a number of years he served as constable for the County of Lambton. In Quebec he had married Ann Smith (1819–1895), who was born in Longford, Ireland and who came to Ontario in 1842. Their children were: Sarah Jane, a resident of Watford; Joseph (1840–); Lucy Annie (Mrs. R. L. Hawkins); John, a commercial traveller of Toronto; Maria (m. Alexander Laird) of Warwick; Henrietta (m. John Baker) of Watford; Samuel; Henry F., editor of the Watford Advocate; and Frederick L., an engineer for the Standard Oil Co.

Joseph Williams was born near Brantford and was two years old when his parents came to Warwick Twp. He was educated in Warwick schools, and assisted his father in clearing and cultivating the farm until he was nineteen. For several years he worked in the United States, then purchased a farm on Lot 17, Con. 4, Warwick Twp. When he sold it in 1882 it was a very valuable piece of property. He then settled at Watford, where he erected a home on Main St.

Joseph was active politically, serving six years on Council. In 1902 he was elected Reeve. He also served as chairman of the first school board of Watford, and remained a member for three years.

Joseph Williams married Margaret J. Phillips (1846–) who was born in Lake County, Indiana and came to Ontario with her husband.

The following poem will prove of interest to our readers:

THE PIONEERS OF CANADA
or SIXTY YEARS AGO

by William W. Revington; sung by J. S. Williams, the original “Old Pioneer”

I love to hear the old pioneer tell of the days of yore,
And why he left his native land to seek a foreign shore
To brave the breeze, where forest trees were almost hid with snow
And there to build his cabin home some sixty years ago.

While longing for a spot on earth that they could call their own,
They left the land that gave them birth to try and get a home;
Where no evictions could be made, a landlord’s power to show
They ventured out to Canada here sixty years ago.

’Tis wonderful the changes made in those short sixty years,
Not only in the forest glades, but in our pioneers,
Just see them now, with wrinkled brow, their gray heads bending low,
How great indeed has been the change since sixty years ago.

Whatever landscape ever had a change so great and grand
As can be said in Canada, our own dear native land;
Her forests, once so very great, are going sure but slow,
Just like her hardy pioneers of sixty years ago.

Our old pioneers for many years had dangers to go through
As great as Wellington, who won his fame at Waterloo;
Where could you read of braver deeds than the old pioneers could shown,
While trying to make a home for us here, sixty years ago.

Where wolves and bears in packs and pairs and other beasts of prey,
Prowled ’round their cabins every night where Indians roamed by day,
Who risked their lives, their weans and wives, as early records show,
While clearing up this wilderness here sixty years ago.

O, what a debt of gratitude we owe our old pioneers!
Then treat them, friends, with due respect, in their declining years;
For most of them have gone to rest, as many of you know,
That ventured out to Canada here, sixty years ago.

Canadian lakes and rivers all are beautiful to view,
Her flowering hills and flowing rills shine like the mountain dew;
Its fertile fields abundance yields, its scenery is grand;
No wonder that Canadian boys do love their native land.

Chapter 24 of 25 - Williams, John

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